Illustration of dolmen
dolmen
noun
dol·men ˈdōl-mən 
ˈdȯl-
ˈdȯl- ˈdäl-
: a prehistoric monument of two or more upright stones supporting a horizontal stone slab found especially in Britain and France and thought to be a tomb
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The vertical stones form an ovoid chamber (dolmen) connecting to a long (21 meters, or 69 feet) corridor. 
Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 24 Aug. 2022 The dolmen was last visible in 2019, when Europe was facing a drought, NASA said. Kyla Guilfoil, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2022 Speaking with DiCYT, Rojo-Guerra says that a flint blade discovered at the dolmen shows traces of being used to cut bone. Jane Recker, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Feb. 2022 Other remnants of the project lie nearby: stone-gray chunks that resemble a Neolithic dolmen. Anthony Lan, The New Yorker, 30 July 2021 In 2012, archaeologists found a panel of rock art engravings on the ceiling of a huge dolmen in a field near the settlement of Shamir. Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 July 2020 Another wall in the dolmen’s interior displays three crosses enclosed by rectangles, reports Amanda Borschel-Dan for the Times of Israel. Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 July 2020 As Miguel Ángel Marcos adds for the newspaper Hoy, the trip to the dolmen is punishing, requiring visitors to walk for hours in the full heat of the sun. Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, 9 Sep. 2019 The vestiges of British rule and Irish nobles, forts and castles, dot the landscape, along with stone dolmens, built thousands of years ago, but for what purpose and how remains a mystery. New York Times, 12 Aug. 2019 See More
Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 24 Aug. 2022 The dolmen was last visible in 2019, when Europe was facing a drought, NASA said. Kyla Guilfoil, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2022 Speaking with DiCYT, Rojo-Guerra says that a flint blade discovered at the dolmen shows traces of being used to cut bone. Jane Recker, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Feb. 2022 Other remnants of the project lie nearby: stone-gray chunks that resemble a Neolithic dolmen. Anthony Lan, The New Yorker, 30 July 2021 In 2012, archaeologists found a panel of rock art engravings on the ceiling of a huge dolmen in a field near the settlement of Shamir. Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 July 2020 Another wall in the dolmen’s interior displays three crosses enclosed by rectangles, reports Amanda Borschel-Dan for the Times of Israel. Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 July 2020 As Miguel Ángel Marcos adds for the newspaper Hoy, the trip to the dolmen is punishing, requiring visitors to walk for hours in the full heat of the sun. Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, 9 Sep. 2019 The vestiges of British rule and Irish nobles, forts and castles, dot the landscape, along with stone dolmens, built thousands of years ago, but for what purpose and how remains a mystery. New York Times, 12 Aug. 2019 See More Word History
Etymology
French, probably modification of Cornish tolmen, from tol hole + men stone
First Known Use
1859, in the meaning defined above